| abstract | The purpose of this project is to consider creating a model of incarnational theology coupled with a concrete understanding of what
a ministry of presence looks like. Combined with pastoral care strategies, narratology, transactional analysis, and mindfulness approaches, my goal is to foment a sense
of self-esteem within the undocumented homeless population and raise the social conscience of both the First United Methodist Church and the Hands Across Long
Island-Community Wellness and Recovery Center of what a collaborative effort such as this can accomplish in a community ravished by a politics of exclusion. This
project will be a catalyst for raising awareness of First United Methodist Church's role as God's agent of hope by connecting with community-based programs such as
Hands Across Long Island Community-Wellness and Recovery Center that seek to discover and develop the assets of its participants for personal and communal transformation.
I believe that if authentic and sustainable community is to take place, a sense of faith transformed into hope — that accepts the paradoxical reality that
surrounds us, thus shunning utopianism — along with the understanding that God's kin-dom has invaded human history — the 'already' as we await the 'not yet'
— and that a reversal of fortunes is now taking place, a radical message of hope and liberation must be pursued. My hope is that the participants not only will
connect with the church community in ways that will provide an environment for radical incarnational-eschatological hospitality but that the Hands Across Long
Island-Community Wellness and Recovery Center will strive to be more culturally informed to meet the needs of the Latino community. |
